Mill History

In January 1953, a 54 acre site for the Shoalhaven Paper Mill, located on the northern bank of the Shoalhaven River at Bomaderry, was purchased by Wiggins Teape and William Nash (both from England).

The building of the Mill was substantially completed by the end of 1955. Two pre-loved machines were transported from England and erected in the Mill.

On February 7, 1956 the first paper was reeled up on Shoalhaven No. 1 Machine. Six months later, No. 2 Machine started up. The official opening of the Mill was in February 1957. In November 1961, an expansion program was approved. This included the building of No. 2 Mill in 1962.

An Administration Block, Water Treatment Plant, Power House, Canteen, Effluent Treatment Plant, Pulp Mill, and several other parts of the plant were also built during this expansion time.

In August 1970 Wiggins Teape Australia was merged with Associated Pulp and Paper Mills (APPM).

In August 1974, the Shoalhaven Paper Mill site was flooded, causing a two day closure of the site. After the flood waters of 1974 receded the Paper Mill developed protocols for evacuation, communication and safety procedures to be adopted in the event of further flooding.

These protocols were used in 1975 and 1978 when flood waters were again at the doors of the Paper Mill.

The pictures to the right show the floods at the Paper Mill in March 1978.

In 1993, APPM was sold to Amcor and the new company name announced in November that year was Australian Paper.

An outsource Maintenance Contract Scheme came into force with Silcar Paper taking over the role of maintenance contractor for the Shoalhaven Paper Mill from July 1 1994.

In 1994 a new ‘bag house’ was installed on the coal-fired boiler to reduce coal dust emissions. The coal dust captured by the bag house was incorporated into soil improvers for use by local farmers.

1996 a $7.5 million waste water treatment plant was installed. This brought the Mill’s waste water quality to standards that approach world’s best practice.

In 2000 the Digital Control System (DCS) on the paper machine was upgraded to state of the art, ABB technology.

In 2008 the existing coal fired boiler was decommissioned following the purchase of a more efficient and environmentally friendly gas fired boiler. This reduced greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2 by approximately 50%.

Australian Paper was purchased by the Nippon Paper Group in 2009.

The Mill has subsequently achieved certification for its Quality and Environmental Management Systems. The systems have been developed to meet the requirements of the International Standards (Quality ISO 9001 and Environment ISO 14001). The systems are audited regularly to ensure they continue to meet the requirements of the relevant standard.